archer@stlvm2.iinus1.ibm.com (Gary D. Archer) (01/29/91)
The other day I was having some problems with my modem line ... so down I went to the garage of my condo looking for the demark plug to test the lines. Lo and behold ... I don't have one, I only have the old style lightning protector block. Yes ... I checked to see if there were any other "demark" boxes for the condo units ... all the wires come in individually to each unit. What are my rights to have a "demark"? (BTW the modem problem was my cat pulling some wires out of a phone jack in another room, if I'd had a "demark" it would have been easier to verify it was my problem. If I call and ask that a "demark" be installed with the phone company (PAC*BELL) charge me for the install? Gary [Moderator's Note: I may be wrong, but I do not believe a 'demark' is anything more or less than the place on the wire where your possession of the wire ends and telco's begins. In your case, this would probably be at the lightning protector, if that is the place where the wires then come through the wall and into your home. It is the place on the wire where you no longer have any control over what happens to it. Why don't you put your own demark in at the point where the wires enter your home? Get a modular block (RJ-11?) from Radio Shack and mount it where the wires come in. Cut the wires, attach them to one side of the block and re-connect your side of the wires at the same place. Then in the future, tests can be done by going to that place, lifting off your side of the wires and plugging a known good phone into the connection, enabling you to test outward from there, from the convenience and warmth of your home. If the line is bad at that point, the trouble is obviously outside your home and your control. The single part needed from Radio Shack will cost only a couple dollars. PAT]